Sermon - AudioNum 28-30 - Audio
Num 28-30 - Daily Reading
Daily Insights - Please Comment
Numbers 28-29
John Witvliet (of the Calvin Worship Symposium) insists that worship includes both habits and moments. Obedience includes at least a dose of ritual, and often profound moments of worship rise out of your habits. Example: if you have a habit with your spouse for a Saturday date night, some dates will be more heartfelt than others. In order to keep the Israelites disciplined in their devotion, God “schedules” daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly food offerings. To keep with the marriage metaphor: perhaps you try to have dinner together every day, have some Saturday date nights, and do something special for your anniversary and Valentines Day.
Interestingly, in post temple times the Jews replaced these sacrifices with daily prayer times [JPS Torah Commentary]. For us, prayer, bible reading, church can serve much as these daily offerings did in the Old Testament: habits that lead to transformed lives and encounters with God.
28
Vs 3-7 The imagery for the daily offering is that of a daily meal. These are the staple foods for the Israelites. Lamb is the most inexpensive meat and grapes (wine), what, and olive (oil) are the three most abundant crops. So not only is he pulling up a seat to the table (imagery), but he's not a burden to the people. The true God of Israel can be contrasted to the Mesopotamian gods on this point. The dinner list for them includes (from an ancient near eastern source): “4 meals a day of 21 first class rams which had been fed barely for two years, 2 large bulls, 8 lambs, 30 marratu birds, 3 cranes, 5 ducks, 4 boars, 3 ostrich eggs, and 3 duck eggs.” [JPS Torah Commentary]
Additionally, it should be remembered that God is not asking for food because he's hungry. As Psalm 50.9-10 reminds us: “I do not need to take a bull from your household or goats from your sheepfolds. For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me, as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.” Rather he is offering the people of Israel a relationship. Hospitality was an emphasis of their culture, not unlike today that much of our relational life revolves around meal-times.
vs 8 Just a note here that the Jewish day begins as the sun goes down. In other words, the Israelites usher in the new day by presenting an evening meal to the Lord.
Vs 9-10 The “regular burnt offerings” are the 2 lambs described in vs 3-7. The celebration of the Sabbath essentially call for a double offering.
Vs 11-15 The monthly offering includes a sin offering.
Vs 16-25 This is the third description of the Passover (Exodus 12, Leviticus 23)
vs 26-31 The Feast of Weeks (also mentioned in Levitcus 23), first fruits and Shavuot [hebrew for “harvest] (Exodus 23.16) all refer to the same festival. By the time of the new testament, Jewish tradition connects this festival to the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. Pentecost happens during the festival of Shavuot. We’ve got to understand that the Apostles are thinking “Law” on this day in connection with blessing and sustaining life. It is in this context that the apostles receive the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.1-21. It’s profound then that Galatians 5.22-26 talks about “fruits” of the Spirit which actually seem to be the “spirit” of the law. It is also profound that at this moment, the harvest begins (the “harvest” Jesus talks about in Matthew 9).
29
vs 1-8 This is a special monthly offering: Jews now consider this their new year, Rosh Hashana.
Vs 7-11 The Day of Atonement requires the same food sacrifices as the New Year
vs 12-40 The Feast of Tabernacles celebrates the end of the harvest and was an expression of thanksgiving to God. Jeremiah 5.24 shows that God is responsible for the harvest: “Let us revere the Lord our God. It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time.” It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.”
Day one starts with 13 bulls. Each subsequent day has one less bull until the 7th day when there are 7 bulls sacrificed. If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of sevens (and its multiple 14) in these chapters.
Numbers 30
vs 1-2 Two verses on vows for men. “No one was forced by law to make a vow, but once made, vows had to be fulfilled. Breaking a vow meant a broken trust and a broken relationship. (Life Application Study Bible)
Vs 3-16 The rest show the non-binding nature of vows on women if their father or husband disallow. I don't have much to say about this chapter. If anyone has anything to add, feel free to share your thoughts on the blog.
Vs 9 Widows vows stand. This does show that widows have legal rights.
Vs 15 If the husband confirmed his wife’s vow (either specifically or by silence), then he was responsible to make sure the vow was fulfilled.
6 comments:
It opened my eyes reading that sime of our offerings today our prayer, bible reading, and going to church. Not sure if I ever thought of offerings in this way, thank you for pointing this out. We should ALL do this daily to honor God. Also in Chapter 29:39 it talks about fellowship offerings. Can the offerings above connect to a fellowship offering? Where else in the bible does it talk about these specific offerings?
I guess I'm unclear as to if the offerings were eaten or not?
If not it seems very wasteful. But again it's God's stuff and he can request whatever he desires as he is God. But comment to this if you could please.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Rochelle,
Fellowship offerings, sometimes called thank offerings or offerings of well-being, all flow from one basic thing: thankfulness to God for something he has done. These offerings actually turn into a shared meal where part of the offering is put on the altar for God and the rest is used for a feast for the one giving the gift. The twist is that since the offering is given completely to God, when you sit down at the meal it is God giving you a gift of food, not the other way around. In this light these other things mentioned as forms of offering really don't quality, at least not in the Old Testament.
What is interesting from our New Testament perspective is that Paul's words to the church in Rome after he has detailed God's rescue of us from sin and death are about offering ourselves a living sacrifices (Romans 12.1-2). The sacrifice Paul is referring to is the fellowship offering of the Old Testament.
Hey Nick,
When it comes to sacrifices both things you mention are true. Some sacrifices (Burnt offerings for sin) are completely consumed on the altar. These sacrifices show the necessity of total sacrifice for forgiveness, something that we find also in Christ--his life is completely given for our forgiveness, to deliver us from the present evil age, to begin his church and to begin his rule (Galatians 1, Acts 20, Acts 2).
On the other hand, fellowship offerings were not fully consumed on the altar. Instead in these offerings God received his portion and the people received back a portion to celebrate a meal with God. As in all offerings, God received the best part of the offering. Also, with this type of offering the priests received a share.
I also noticed that the offerings were required to be blemish free quite often. Especially when speaking of the lambs.
I can think of one blemish free lamb that was sacrificed for us. :)
Also, does this speak to how we should be as we offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices? Blemish or sin free?
Our being "living sacrifices" is always a blemish, sin free deal. But the difference is that our being without blemish comes from Christ. As the Heidelberg Catechism says,
Q & A: 60
Q. How are you right with God?
A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.
Even though my conscience accuses me
of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments
and of never having kept any of them,
and even though I am still inclined toward all evil,
nevertheless,
without my deserving it at all,
out of sheer grace,
God grants and credits to me
the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,
as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner,
as if I had been as perfectly obedient
as Christ was obedient for me.
All I need to do
is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.
It is also good to see that it is not just people that Jesus is working with in all of this. Ephesians 5 says "25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
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